When you want to treat your taste buds to a totally rocking flavorful packed meal, this Southern Collard Greens recipe is just the ticket! Packed with veggies and healthy ingredients, this nod to Southern Collard Greens dish breaks the away from traditional Southern recipes with a *vegan high five* plus, it’s so good for you!  Full of flavor, texture, vitamins, minerals, and yumminess, makes this dish an ah-mazing Whole Food Plant Based recipe! Vegan, no oil, no sugar, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi!  Robin here.

Collards are serious business in the South.  Most Southern homes serve collards all year round and especially during the holidays. We won’t even pretend to compete with those long-standing traditional recipes.  Ours is a much healthier vegan version and guess what?  It is just as tasty and delicious!

Hello Collard Greens!

Honestly, I had never had collards until Chris made them for me several years ago.  He and Katie had purchased a weekly farm share for the first time that year.  When we went to visit them in Connecticut, they had just received a nice sized portion of collard greens, and he made them for us for dinner.  Monkey fell in love at first bit. Ever since, we’ve been making Southern Collard Greens and growing collard greens in the garden.

We’ve made this delicious dish countless time, and modified the original recipe that Chris prepared for us, adding a little bit here and removing some “there” (oil) to make it Whole Food Plant Based.  It is super tasty.  We all love it, and it never fails to get rave reviews. Serve it along side rice, potatoes, and/or our Cornmeal Biscuits, and you have a fabulous flavorful and filling meal!

Raw vs Tender . . . and somewhere in between

One area of collards controversy does stem from the level of tenderness that our family prefers.  Some really enjoy that “raw” (barely cooked) authentic collard taste and texture, while others want the collards super tender, literally falling apart, and some fall somewhere in between.  I am the “in between” person, while Monkey love’s them raw (just barely cooked), and TP loves it so tender that it’s practically falling apart.

The gift that keeps giving

So, over the past few years, we have been growing collards in our garden, and I must say, collards are the gift that keeps giving.  We literally had collards growing out our ears.  Every time we turned around, the few collard plants that we had in the garden kept producing, and producing, and producing.  It was totally insane how much these plants put out.  Mind you, I am not complaining, just astounded.  As an old farm gal, who had never grown collards in the past, frankly, I was pleasantly surprised.  Needless to say, we eat a lot of collard greens in the summer months.  Stay tuned for a lot of collard greens recipes!

Ameera here!

I love gardening!  Dad and I pretty much tend the garden in the summer months. Mom has to be careful because she has a strong allergic reaction to bee stings.  We have been very fortunate to have plenty of bees pollinate our garden in the past. We love our bees! Looking forward to this year’s garden and sharing it with you!

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Grows like crazy

Mom wasn’t kidding when she said our collards produced like crazy.  I felt like our collard greens grew overnight.  We typically visit our garden every day or every other day in the summer months.  One day, the collards are little baby leaves, and then the next “poof,” full grown and ready to pick. Happy Dance!

Splash some Apple Cider on that!

This recipe is awesome, and I simply can’t every get enough!  I love to splash a little bit of apple cider vinegar on mine or lemon juice.  That tart flavor is a perfect match with the collards.  Soooo tasty! We certainly hope you give this super healthy and delicious recipe a try.  Collards are rich in vitamins K, C, A and E as well they contain folate, thiamin, niacin, manganese, dietary fiber and calcium.

Products Used:

• 8-quart ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven or similar large stock pot
• Strainer (to rinse beans)

Southern Collard Green

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 4-6 Servings 1x
• Category: Dinner

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Description

When you want to treat your taste buds to a totally rocking flavorful packed meal, this Southern Collard Greens is just the ticket! Packed with veggies and healthy ingredients, this nod to Southern Collard Greens dish breaks the away from traditional Southern recipes with a *vegan high five* plus, it’s so good for you!  Full of flavor, texture, vitamins, minerals, and yumminess, makes this dish an ah-mazing Whole Food Plant Based recipe! Vegan, no oil, no sugar, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 celery ribs, diced, cut on the diagonal
• 2 green bell peppers, diced
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 ½ cups low sodium vegetable broth *
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Spice/Herb Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (+/- to taste)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce (we used Frank’s Red Hot Original)
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flake (+/-)
• 3 teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
• Dash of black pepper (+/-)

Other Ingredients: 

• 2 – [ 15 oz. cans ] kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 large bunches collard greens, stems removed, chopped into 1-inch squares or strips
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (or arrow root powder) optional *

Serving Ideas:

• Splash of apple cider vinegar for tang
• Splash of lemon juice to brighten
• Splash of hot sauce for heat
• Serve over rice of choice
• Serve over baked potato
• Serve over our Cornmeal Biscuits
• Serve over boiled potatoes

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Instructions

1. Wash and rinse the collard greens. Cut out the center vein, and cut the collard greens into 1-inch chunks or strips. Set aside.
2. Prep all your veggies.  Place all the Spice/Herb Ingredients into a small bowl, mix well, set aside.
3. Over medium heat, add the onions, celery, and green peppers into an enamel/ceramic lined Dutch oven or deep stock pot. Sauté for 5-7 minutes to soften the veggies.  Then add the garlic and sauté for an additional minute.
4. Add the vegetable broth, lemon juice, liquid smoke, cayenne pepper sauce, and the Spice/Herb Mix. Do not add the cornstarch.  Stir to mix well. Bring up to a boil, then immediately lower to a simmer.
5. Add the collard greens to the pot. Cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.  The tenderness of collard greens is a personal preference.  Some of our family prefers the collard greens cooked for about 45 minutes or an hour until they are really tender, while others in our family prefer them to be “blanched” (about 10-15 minutes) preserving the raw flavor and texture.
6. Determine what you think will work best for you family, then add the kidney beans. Simmer with a gentle boil (not a rolling boil) until the collards reach the desired tenderness.
7. Check the flavors, add in more seasoning, liquid smoke, etc. based upon personal preference.
8. Serve over your favorite rice, baked potato or cornbread. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or hot sauce to individual servings.

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Notes

Tips for Success:

• Tenderness of the Collards: This is really a personal preference.  If you like your collards really tender like some of our family members do, then this can take from 45 minutes to an hour. Do not use a rolling boil, use a low gentle boil.  Do not place the kidney beans into the pot until later as they can split open.  If you know you are cooking them for a while, then wait until about 25 to 20 minutes before they collards are done to stir them in.
• Serving Tips:  Collards are best when you add acidic toppings.  We love using a splash of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or hot sauce.  It really adds dimension to the dish and makes them perfect.
• Sauce/Juice Thickness:  The dish sauce is thin.  We like to add just a hint of thickness to the sauce.  You can achieve this by creating a cornstarch slurry.  See notes below.

Notes Continued:

*Vegetable Stock:  We use Pacific Organic Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.

*Cornstarch (Arrowroot) Slurry: We like the “sauce” to be slightly thickened.  It is perfectly fine to leave it as is; however, if you would like the sauce thickened to a more stew-like consistency; take 1-2 Tablespoons of cornstarch and thicken with 3-4 Tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Whisk well to remove lumps, then add to the Dutch oven at the end by pulling the collards and beans to the side of the pot, then dumping the cornstarch slurry in and stirring to thicken. You may have to increase the heat to activate the slurry to thicken. Cook for several minutes to cook out the cornstarch flavor.

*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary restrictions.

Storage:  Refrigerate. Use within 7 days.

This post contains affiliate links, and I may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here